Ludwigia Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 @RuMert Nice to see that someone else gets around well on his bike And makes some great finds too! And they aren't even all that heavy. Thanks for the great report! 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemphix Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Very nice ! Thank you ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkdoctor Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Great report and photos!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Amazing! Thanks for sharing this adventure. 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Difficult and delicate work you did to find those fossils, but well worth the effort for that rainbow hued nacre. Thank you for the virtual visit to your site! 1 -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted September 24, 2019 Author Share Posted September 24, 2019 Thank you all very much for your replies and kind words ! I'll post here if I find anything worth your attention On 23.09.2019 at 10:37 AM, caterpillar said: be careful by digging like that in sand Thank you, I hope its not that dangerous there, I'll be more careful:) On 23.09.2019 at 7:21 PM, Ludwigia said: Nice to see that someone else gets around well on his bike We need to found a fossil bikers' club:) 1 My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 59 minutes ago, RuMert said: We need to found a fossil bikers' club:) We could call ourselves "Fossil's Angels" 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members paloraptor Posted September 27, 2019 New Members Share Posted September 27, 2019 Great ammonites! it's nice to find these! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 Great report and great finds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 Beautiful cephalopods! I can't wait to see them cleaned up. Thank you for writing such a detailed report too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEP Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Awesome ammonites. I grew up about 5 miles from the Korite Mine where they are mining the gem quality ammolite in Alberta. Me and a friend use to fossil hunt and find so many that had the beautiful colors just like that before they came in to mine it. Most of it is in my moms garden now except a couple nice whole ones I have. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 Thank you! Unfortunately the ammonites look best in situ: often the shells are squished and hold together only in mud. They also look good while wet, afterwards they tend to loose color. Trying to separate them from their "natural enviroment", i.e. weak and wet sandy clay while keeping their beauty is a hard task. My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilnoggin Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Thanks for sharing with us. It looks like a fun place to collect! Have you tried spraying them with a clear acrylic spray paint like krylon after they have dried a bit? That may help preserve the color 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 Yes, I tried water-based acrylic paint, nail polish, normal glue, Paraloid 72 (they have to be glued and the glue affects polish/paint). Color is still fading. Using nail polish changes color to reddish (unnatural). My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 So I tried a bit of prepping and still couldn't work out an adequate approach to this material. It's very fragile and colorful while wet, but the phragmocones are empty and either squished or covered with mini-cracks falling apart in your hands. I applied model glue immediately, but the glue is not transparent, so afterwards I had to use something else. I tried nail polish, it looks like it is soaked into the matrix, the shell becomes covered with small holes (fragile shells again) and the color fades. Acrylic polish is better, half of the initial color is saved:) The big fragment is heavily covered with big amounts of everything and leaves much to desire, small ones - with acrylic paint, the septa are as they are. One of the shells retains its interesting bluish color, but it's partly broken and the surface is not smooth. It was covered with nail polish. 1 My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 I even tried to preserve the outer shell casts applyng generous amounts of normal glue to the matrix and acrylic polish - to the shell imprint My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 But basically the shells should not be iridescent in nature, the shells are made of 3(?) layers and they become iridescent only when the outer layer is removed which happens when the shells break from the matrix in water. Here are 2 shell fragments, the 2nd produced from dry matrix I let a big chunk of matrix dry for a couple of weeks. The ammos from dry matrix look like usual, with white chalky shells 1 My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 But I'm not sure if I should still apply acrylic polish (as in 2nd outer cast), because the chalk from the shells are fragile and if you touch it, some sticks to your hands. My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 Besides ammos, the matrix contains many bivalves 1 My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 And brachiopods 2 My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 This is very fascinating, thank you for sharing your experiments. I wonder, is that similar to how the presence of water is what causes opal's iridescence? I have to say, even the reduced color is still lovely on those. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 Those fossils look exquisite to me, though I can appreciate the difficulties in collecting and preserving them. Congratulations and thanks for sharing them. By the way, riding my bike will only bring me to exposures of metamorphic rock. If I want to collect fossils I have to travel. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 Thank you, I was thinking of keeping iridescent shells in a glass of water, but this idea came a bit late My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aek Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 I wonder would mineral oil be helpful? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 Thanks for your suggestion, I've never used mineral oil and have no idea where to look for it. Is it liquid paraffin in medecine? My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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